Journal #3

Journal #3

Chapters 8 & 9

Perspective: Atticus

I didn’t want to be stern with my children but all the Radley nonsense was starting to bother me. It was only a few weeks ago when they asked if I saw Mr. Arthur Radley when I went to the house because Mrs. Radley had died. Jem is a smart boy though and could tell I didn’t want them touching around the subject much longer, and besides the next morning the Radley’s were the last thing on their minds. Screams brought me running to Scout in the morning and it took some of my control to not start laughing and explain to her calmly that the world was not ending, but Maycomb had snow for the first time in a long while. My kids questioned me on how to make a snowman but not ever being around snow myself I couldn’t give them a good answer. They called me at work later in the day to report a surprise and I could already start to guess what it might be. The back yard was torn up when I got home but they had made a nice snowman in much likeliness of our neighbor, Mr. Avery. The snow covered the whole world in a blanket of white and cold. I continually added coals onto the fires to keep it going, but in the morning we awoke to the fright of not needing to.

There was a fire right across the street at Ms. Maudie’s! Blazin’ through the walls and up through the house. I made Jem and Scout stand over by the Radley house, in evasion of the fire. Then I ran with the rest of the men to save her furniture, taking out her ol’ favorite rocking chair first. Soon though the fire was going through to the upstairs and almost getting Mr. Avery stuck. We all cleared out and watched as he slid down a pillar to the ground, groaning when he reached it. I personally wouldn’t have advised it though ‘cause of his age, and I believe everyone else unanimous in that thought too. Soon fire trucks were comin’ from all over and dousing the flames with the water from the hydrants. Soon we were stamping out fires too, for our house had gotten some of the flame. Ms. Maudie’s house’s roof then teetered for a moment before chunks of wood fell and the house crumbled. The fire’s tyranny was soon put to an end, and the last flames were doused. A little while later, just as the sky started to lighten the fire trucks left and we went inside for hot cocoa.

We sipped hot coca a while before I finally took a good look at Jem and Scout. My voice rose with sternness as I questioned her on the blanket she was clutching tightly around herself. She looked puzzled and hurt, like I had been quibbling before, but she then looked down and became shocked. Someone must have put it around her because she assured me that she and Jem had stayed put. Jem started mumbling all kinds of nonsense then and when I asked him to slow and calm down he did, and when we thought about it a little bit more we finally came to the conclusion that it must have been Boo Radley watching out for the children. Unfortunately, this just seemed to start their imaginations with all the Radley nonsense again. I just hope they don’t go tormenting that man anymore.

Journal #2

Journal #2

Chapters 4-7

Perspective: Dill

I awaited the end of school excitedly. This summer I got to go back to Aunt Rachel’s again and that would mean endless summer days reenacting more skits with Scout and Jem in the yard. It also meant more expeditions of the Radley Place. To get to Aunt Rachel’s I rode the train by myself from Meridian to Maycomb Junction in Abbott County. I also got to eat at a diner. The day I arrived the sun was warm on our backs the heat covering us in blankets of sweat as me, Scout, and Jem spent the first days of summer deciding what to play. I wanted to play Tom and Sam and Dick but Scout, stubborn as ever, refused to. We spent those few days bored until we walked near the Radley House and got into talking about Hot Steams. Jem and Scout got mad at each other, as siblings often do, and Jem decided to roll her down in the tire to the Radley Lot. Soon she took dizzying steps runnin’ back for lemonade time and that’s when we got the idea for the Boo Radley game.

Earlier Scout had asked Jem to come up with a new idea but he’d had none. He got one though as we sat under the cool shade of the porch sipping down sweet glasses of lemonade. The Radley’s had always interested me with their haunting of the neighborhood and I eagerly agreed to the game, Scout holding back but finally joining in. We played different parts, I having a talent for playing many roles. The summer dwindled on and our game took shape. We stole bits of gossip and created our own stories to fit the roles. We played all during the day unless neighbors or townsfolk showed up. Our game was put to a stop though when Atticus game home early one day to pick up things he had forgotten.

I think he suspected our game but he went inside when we wouldn’t spill. Scout was being a girl and stopped playing, fearing of getting in trouble from Atticus. She kept bothering us until we stopped too though. I spent lots of the following weeks with Jem in their treehouse, one day I asked Scout to marry me too.

Me and Jem spent lots of time coming up with ideas and plans alone, but one day Scout caught us at it. She came wanderin’ over from Ms. Maudie’s and questioned us so we made her do what we told her if we told her what we were doin’. I came up with the idea of givin’ a note to Boo Radley, so he’ll finally come out of that house and we can have a good look at him. Also, maybe he’ll feel better. Bein’ cooped up in that house all day is no fun, none at all.

Our plan was workin’ well and Jem almost had the note in the shutter when Atticus came up the walk. I started ringin’ a bell as hard as I could in his face but it was no use. He suspected what we were up to and gave us a lecture on Mr. Radley’s privacy.

My last night in Maycomb soon came though. I was still determined to see Boo Radley before I had to go back to Meridian. Me, Jem, and Scout took a walk over to the Radley’s and slipped under the fence and we hurried over to their window. They lifted me up and I tried to peek in the house but all I could see was darkness. I wasn’t giving up though yet. I tried to convince them to go around to the back window but that’s when we saw the shadow. We were soon bein’ shot at and we had to run back. The whole neighborhood was there outside the Radley place. In all the hurry to get out though Jem had lost his pants and I had to tell lies about playing strip poker to throw off the adults. Unfortunately, I had not gotten to see Boo Radley this summer either, but oh was I still determined to.

Journal #1

Journal #1

Chapters 1-3

Perspective of Ms. Caroline

I slumped at my desk after the day. Still sipping on the cool, fresh water Little Chuck Little had brought her earlier. I didn’t expect teaching here to be easy, but the day had been downright hard. I saw I had a long way to go with these children if I wanted them to behave and learn properly using the Dewey Decimal System.

The day had started off fine getting ready in the morning. I pinned up my hair up and put on my favorite red and white dress and slipping on my high heeled pumps. Then I finished off my look by swiping crimson nail polish on. The children had been mostly what I expected when I came into the first grade classroom. Most were energetic with the thought of starting school, but some children were obviously older and laid back with dreary thoughts of returning to the same grade.

I began the day with something simple. I read a story of cats but being the young children they are they all started to squirm before the story finished, clearly unable to drink in the fictional unreality of the story. An irked feeling began brushing at me but I pushed it away, keeping my face clear, deciding to persevere with teaching this rowdy group and keep things from getting out of control. When I could tell the kids may burst if I kept them sitting and listening to a story about cats I decided to start with the alphabet.

I printed it on the board in large letters so all the kids could read them clearly, then questioned them to see if anyone knew what it was. Apparently, I had been mistaken, because more children raised their hands showing me that maybe more had been kept back then I thought. I called on a girl to see if she could read the alphabet. As she easily named the 26 letters I could feel my forehead bunching up. Then I had her read other pieces finally losing my temper. First graders weren’t supposed to know how to read! This would mess with the Dewey Decimal System. I didn’t want her parents teaching her all wrong and from how easily she was reading she must have known for awhile, and I didn’t have time to undo all the damage they could have done. I highly doubted they had gone to college to become teachers like me. I brought her over and spoke to her and she started mumblin’ about all these silly tales and eccentric stories her brother had told her. It must be worse than I thought. I decided to speak to her sternly hoping she would stop readin’ so she could learn how to do it properly.

I continued the day with simple exercises to improve on their reading, but starting to lose my temper again when the same Jean Louise started writing. Oh, all the awful things her parents had been doin’. This girl was giving me heaps of trouble and she only continued to add onto it. Later in the day when it was time for lunch she began speaking up for a boy who didn’t have lunch, speaking to me like I should know how the town was run after I had been here only a day. I’m not indigenous to the area so how was I supposed to know about all the townsfolk? I knew I couldn’t use intimidation on the children so I settled on bringing her sternly into the corner and smacking her hand with a ruler and making her stay there. When the children walked out to leave for lunch I cradled my head in my hands, sighing deeply. I hoped that soon these children would learn their lesson, but even though it had only been halfway through the day I began to feel this was the start of what would be a long year.

Free Read

NAME__Caroline_________ DATE__2/18/10________
BOOK___The Last Song_____
AUTHOR__Nicholas Sparks_______ PAGES ___none finished book____
TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK___finished book____

QUESTION 1: What does this book make you wonder about? Why?

RESPONSE 1: The overall thing this book makes me think about is love, but is also makes me think about other things. The thing I mostly thought about while reading this book was how much time we take for granted everyday, and the relationships with people in our life we take for granted. Ronnie was angry at her father for three years, and in the end of the book she discovers it was her mom who betrayed her family, and that she had been angry at her dad all of those times for nothing and he was going to pass away. It makes me wonder about people I should of forgiven and mistakes I might have made. Just by forgiving people we easily create a better relationship with them, and sometimes, like Ronnie, we have been mistaken with our anger and if we had forgiven that person we could have gotten back the time that had been wasted with feelings of hatred and anger. This book makes me think, how can I learn from mistakes I may have previously have made, involving hurting someone, or them hurting me, and how can I use that knowledge and build on it in the future, so I don't make those mistakes again.

QUESTION 2: Do you think you would read another book by this author? Why or why not?

RESPONSE 2: I think I definitely would, and I have read another book by this author. One other book I have read by this author is The Notebook, but mostly what influenced me to read that book and what has influenced me to read Dear John and A Walk To Remember someday, was the movies made based on the books. The books and the movies, have all easily brought me to tears. Nicholas Sparks can write in a way that creates love to show its truest forms and just how wonderful and heartbreaking it can be. These books and movies have all made me look at life in new ways, and go over what I've done or what the future holds for me. His writing has taught me lessons, and one thing it has made me do is also look at my Christian faith in new ways. One thing that also always inspires me to read his books or the movies based on them is in some of them he has incorporated faith as a big role, and my Christian faith is something I strive to live by and learn about. In A Walk To Remember, the movie, a girl changes a boy from ways of hate in violence, to a loving caring person and does this by introducing Christian faith. Also, in The Last Song, the book I have read for this free read, the Pastor plays a big role in the book. He is the dad's best friend and has helped him grow and learn from when the dad was a child. Before the father passes away, he always talks about his quest for God and how to find him, and Ronnie watches as her dad daily thumbs through his bible searching for answers to a father she hasn't known for three years. So yes I know for a fact I definitely will read another book by this author.

NAME_Caroline Brand__ DATE_2/2/2010___
BOOK__The Last Song_____
AUTHOR_Nicholas Sparks___ PAGES __1__-__405__
TOTAL PAGES THIS WEEK___405___

QUESTION 1:What character do you like most in this book and/or what character do you like least? Why?

RESPONSE 1:I think my favorite character in the book is Ronnie. There are several reasons she is my favorite. She is mostly my favorite because of her personality. She is tough and she gets angered easily but never without reason. When she cares about someone she really cares about them and she will do anything for them. Like I said she can be tough, a tough cookie, but once you get to know her she will care about you, listen to you, and you know you can trust her.


QUESTION 2:What was one of your favorite lines (or sentences) in what you read today? Copy it down and tell why you liked it.

RESPONSE 2:"Life he realized was much like a song. In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it's in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole thing worthwhile." I liked this quote because I believe it is very true. In the beginning life is a mystery. You are new to the world and don't know much. And in the end we know we are going to pass away. But it's in the middle of life where we experience everything that makes it worthwhile. We live, love, learn, teach, lead, follow, inspire, cry, smile, laugh, want, all of these things and more. Our experiences make us wiser and that is what life is all about learning through things enjoying every minute of it.

Humanities Reading : Book

For the free read in humanities I have chosen to read the book The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. There are several reasons why I chose to read this book. One is I heard about this book because it is a movie that is coming out. Also, I like lots of movies made about Nicholas Sparks books like The Notebook and A Walk to Remember and I also like the book The Notebook so I thought since this is another book by the same author it would be good.

LOTF chapter 9

Chapter 9: A View to a Death
I believe Simon’s death was Jack’s fault. I think this because Jack is the one who takes everyone to hunt the beast and makes them think they need to hunt it. If he hadn’t gotten so obsessed with hunting and led everyone to hunt the beast they might have not believed they needed to hunt it, and wouldn’t have been led to immediately kill it when they believed they saw it. Jack also decided to leave the group, and his parting words were “I don’t want to play anymore.” This means that he thinks this is a game, they don’t realize they are on an island and they could die here. They are boys and to them this is a game but he doesn’t want to play, but it looks like he is the one who is playing. He has gone crazy from hunting and has decided that rescue is not important, and now he has brought all the other boys into the game. Ralph and his boys are the only ones who understand this isn’t a game, not Jack and that has lead to the death of Simon. If Jack had listened to Ralph and stayed with the tribe it wouldn’t have happened. So I believe the death of Simon is Jack’s fault.